WARFIGHTING PHILOSOPHY
•Maneuver warfare seeks to shatter the enemy's cohesion through a series of rapid, violent, and unexpected actions which create a... [Show More] turbulent and rapidly deteriorating situation with which the enemy cannot cope.
•Besides traits such as endurance and courage that all warfare demands, maneuver warfare puts a premium on certain particular human skills and traits. It requires:
-
The temperament to cope with uncertainty.
-
Flexibility of mind to deal with fluid and disorderly situations.
-
A willingness to act with initiative and boldness.
-
The moral courage to accept responsibility for this type of behavior.
LEADERSHIP PHILOSOPHY
Leading Marines describes a leadership philosophy that reflects the traditional strengths of the Marine Corps as an institution and attempts to define the very ethos of being a Marine.
Marine leadership philosophy:
•Is about the inseparable relationship between the leader and the led, and is as much about the individual Marine—the bedrock upon which our Corps is built—as it is about any leader
•Captures the undefinable spirit that forms the character of our Corps—being a Marine comes from the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor that is tattooed on the soul of every one of us after earning the title United States Marine
•Is based upon certain fundamental traits and principles of leading—Marines are not born knowing them, but must learn what they are and what they represent
HONOR
A code of personal integrity, honor guides those who do the right thing when no one is looking. It is not only a duty but also a distinction, as those who possess honor are held in honor. It is found in one's beliefs but exhibited through one's actions. Marines are held to the highest of standards, ethically and morally. Marines are expected to act responsibly in a manner befitting the title they have earned.
COURAGE
When other principles are tested, it is courage that prevents them from crumbling. It is not about ignoring fear but being stronger than fear. Courage is the guardian of all other values. It is there when times are toughest, when difficult decisions have to be made. It takes the form of mental, physical, and ethical strength, and it is found in the backbone of every Marine.
COMMITMENT
Commitment is the spirit of determination found in every Marine. It is what compels Marines to serve our nation and the Corps and to continue on when others quit. Commitment does not take breaks, and it cannot be faked. It measures and proves one's desire, dedication, and faithfulness. Becoming a United States Marine represents the highest level of commitment.
WAR DEFINED
War is defined as a violent clash of interests between or among organized groups characterized by the use of military force.
•These groups have traditionally been established nation-states, but they also include any non- state group—such as an international coalition or a faction within or outside of an existing state—with its own political interests and the ability to generate organized violence on a scale sufficient to have significant political consequences.
•The essence of war is a violent struggle between two hostile, independent, and irreconcilable wills, each trying to impose itself on the other. It is critical to keep in mind that the enemy is not an inanimate object to be acted upon but an independent and animate force with its own objectives and plans.
•Appreciating this dynamic interplay between opposing human wills is essential to understanding the fundamental nature of war.
OBJECTIVE OF WAR
The objective of war is to impose our will on our enemy.
•The means to this end is the organized application or threat of violence by military force.
•The target of that violence may be limited to hostile combatant forces or it may extend to the enemy population at large.
•War may range from intense clashes between large military forces—sometimes backed by an official declaration of war—to subtler, unconventional hostilities that barely reach the threshold of violence.
FRICTION
Countless factors make war difficult to conduct. Collectively, these factors are called friction. Friction:
•Is the force that resists all action and saps energy. It makes the simple difficult and the difficult seemingly impossible
•Can be mental or physical
•Can be external or self-imposed
Whatever form it takes war is a human enterprise; therefore, friction will always have a psychological as well as a physical impact.
UNCERTAINTY
Another attribute of war is uncertainty. All actions in war take place in an atmosphere of uncertainty, or in the "fog of war."
•Uncertainty pervades battle in the form of unknowns about the enemy, the environment, and even the friendly situation.
•The very nature of war makes certainty impossible; all actions in war will be based on incomplete, inaccurate, or even contradictory information.
•Because we can never eliminate uncertainty, we must learn to fight effectively despite it. We can do this by:
-
Developing simple and flexible plans
-
Planning for likely contingencies
-
Developing standing operating procedures
-
Fostering initiative among subordinates
FLUIDITY
Each episode in war is the temporary result of a unique combination of circumstances, presenting a unique set of problems and requiring an original solution.
Since war is a fluid phenomenon, its conduct requires flexibility of thought.
•Success depends in large part on the ability to adapt—to proactively shape changing events to our advantage as well as to react quickly to constantly changing conditions.
•The tempo of war will fluctuate from periods of intense combat to periods in which activity is limited to information gathering, replenishment, or redeployment.
•A competitive rhythm will develop between the opposing wills with each belligerent trying to influence and exploit tempo and the continuous flow of events to suit their purposes.
DISORDER
Disorder is an inherent characteristic of war; we can never eliminate it.
•In the heat of battle, plans will go awry, instructions and information will be unclear and misinterpreted, communications will fail, and mistakes and unforeseen events will be commonplace.
•It is precisely this natural disorder which creates the conditions ripe for exploitation by an opportunistic will.
•If we are to win, we must be able to operate in a disorderly environment. In fact, we must not only be able to fight effectively in the face of disorder, we should seek to generate disorder and use it as a weapon against our opponent.
COMPLEXITY
War is a complex phenomenon. We have described war as essentially a clash between opposed wills.
•A division is comprised of regiments, a regiment is comprised of battalions, and so on all the way down to individual Marines. Similarly, a wing is compromised of groups, groups are comprised of squadrons, down to the actions of individual Marines.
•Each element is part of a larger whole and must cooperate with other elements for the accomplishment of the common goal. At the same time, each has its own mission; must adapt to its own situation; and must deal with friction, uncertainty, and disorder.
•As a result, war is not governed by the actions or decisions of a single individual in any one place but emerges from the collective behavior of all the individual parts in the system interacting locally in response to local conditions and incomplete information.
Efforts to fully centralize military operations and to exert complete control by a single decision-maker are inconsistent with the complex and distributed nature of war.
THE HUMAN DIMENSION
The human dimension is central in war. It is the human dimension which infuses war with its intangible moral factors.
•War is shaped by human nature and is subject to the complexities, inconsistencies, and peculiarities that characterize human behavior.
•War is an extreme trial of moral and physical strength and stamina.
Individuals and groups of people react differently to the stress of war; an act that may break the will of one enemy may only serve to stiffen the resolve of another. Human will, instilled through leadership, is the driving force of all action in war.
VIOLENCE AND DANGER
War is among the greatest horrors known to humanity.
•The means of war is force, applied in the form of organized violence. It is through the use of violence, or the credible threat of violence, that we compel our enemy to do our will.
•Violence is an essential element of war, and its immediate result is bloodshed, destruction, and suffering.
•While the magnitude of violence may vary with the object and means of war, the violent essence of war will never change.
Since war is a violent enterprise, danger is ever present. The human reaction to danger—fear— has a significant impact on the conduct of war.
•Everybody feels fear. Courage is not the absence of fear; rather, it is the strength to overcome fear.
•Leaders must foster the courage to overcome fear, both individually and within the unit. [Show Less]
